Days to Remember
by Yuki Myco
Summary: Xu loosing her memories, and the disappearances of GFs were only the beginning of something. Something big. It’s up to Quistis and the group to find out what’s going on. Major pairing: XuQuistis.
1. Mommy

**Warning:** This story contains shoujo ai (girlxgirl romance). So if you don't like the idea of romance between two women then stop reading now!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Final Fantasy 8 or any of its characters.

**Author's Note:** I'd first off like to take the time to say that this story has a main pairing of XuxQuistis, but that doesn't mean there won't be other pairings. There'll all be of little focus but there will still be other pairings. Like SquallxRinoa, SeiferxQuistis (one-sided. This won't change. So I'm sorry to fans of this pairing), FuijinxSeifer (one-sided. Might change if reviewers want it to be mutual), IrvinexSelphie (one-sided. Also might change if reviewers want it to), etc.

Also, the main plot of this fic won't really kick in until sometime over the halfway mark. So for a good while it'll just be a whole bunch of humor, drama, romance, and action that doesn't seem connected together. Or at least that's how the plan is at the moment, that might change and I might make the plot occur sooner. I'm still not sure when or how to approach it yet. The rating is M just so that you know it gets more serious/bloody in later chapter. Much later chapters, but it'll still happen. So the rating will already begin at M. So, for now, just enjoy chapter one!

**Chapter Summary:** Xu comes back from her mission, but something's wrong…terribly wrong…her mind…her mind is…THE MIND OF A TODDLER! What the…

* * *

**Chapter One: Mommy**

In the morning of a typical morning in Balamb Garden there would be a few students training in the training center. A few more would be taking a shower or getting dressed, but most would just still be in bed. The morning, for the students, regardless of what activities they may be doing was always quiet and peaceful. Unfortunately for Quistis, today would not be a typical morning for her.

Quistis had known that her lover, Xu, had been sent away in a mission, and wouldn't return for several days. 'It'll be lonely without her…but as a SeeD she has to do the mission she was given…' she assured herself. She was already awake for a few hours, and daylight was just barely starting to pour into the room through her window. She had already taken a shower, and was coming out to dry off. She took the nearby towel that she placed nearby ahead of time and started to dry off her body. From outside the bathroom she could hear a knock come from her dorm door.

"Just a minute!" She yelled, as she was putting on her bathrobe. She didn't hear a response so she assumed she was too far away to hear. She quickly straightened up her bathrobe, to make sure no cleavage was shown, and left the bathroom to unlock the door. When she finished unlocking it, a very dramatic Selphie burst inside. "A bit early for you showing up don't you think Selphie?" Quistis asked jokingly.

"Quistis this is serious! I have something important to tell you!" Selphie exclaimed hysterically. Quistis noticed that she was not trying to be hyper or energetic in the least as she yelled; it was more like she couldn't. Her face showed a mixed expression of concern and sadness, two expressions that contradict Selphie's usually perky attitude.

Quistis placed one hand on each of Selphie's shoulders, and stared directly into her eyes. Now concerned, she asked, "What's happened?"

"It's Xu. She came back from her mission, but she…she's…" Selphie looked away from the older woman. Neither wanting to continue her message nor wanting to look her in the eye.

She then used each hand to grab a hold of Selphie, rather tightly, and begin to shake her. "She's what! Tell me!" Quistis demanded.

Selphie winced slightly, and continued speaking, "She's in the infirmary. Dr. Kadowaki doesn't know what's happened to her, but she thinks that Xu is…" her words no longer reached Quistis.

She was already out the door, and running through the hallway. Quistis had already heard enough to know that Xu needed her, or maybe it was really vice versa. Her thought pattern had a total absence of anything else other than the well-being of her lover. She made it to the infirmary at remarkable time, and the only two people inside were Dr. Kadowaki, and Xu.

Dr. Kadowaki was examining Xu with her stethoscope, but she stopped when Quistis entered. Xu, on the other hand, was lying on a bed. Her body lay there, motionless, eyes closed, and with pale skin. She had no signs of loosing any limbs, blood, or showing of any first-glance injuries. Quistis noticed that the insides of Xu's eyelids were moving. So her biggest fear was instantly dismissed upon sight of it, she wasn't dead.

"Don't worry, she isn't dead. She's only asleep," Dr. Kadowaki explained with no need of a question. "I suggest she gets plenty to eat when she wakes up, and a good nights rest tonight. If any sign of anything unusual occurs to her, then please be sure to notify me immediately. You may take her to your room now if you wish." she finished.

"Thank you, Dr. Kadowaki, but I wouldn't want to disturb her right now. I'll just stay her, by her side, if you don't mind."

"Stay here as long as you like, but uhh…" her voice trails off, as she points to Quistis' robe, waiting for an explanation.

"Oh yes. This…well…err…" she said, suddenly remembering her unplanned sprint. Quistis had a hard time putting her thoughts into words. 'Selphie looked so serious that I thought she was going to tell me Xu was dead. I couldn't just walk here with that on my mind. I had to get here as fast as I could.' Her voice continued its struggle to formulate words as another person came into the infirmary.

"Quistis you forgot your clothes!" exclaimed an out of breath Selphie. A set of SeeD clothes was in the grips of the panting girl, some bra and panties included. A very red and a very embarrassed Quistis took hold of her clothing. Without a word, she ran into the second room for patients to rest in, and pulled the drapes to keep lingering eyes at bay. She shortly came back out, fully clothed.

"Thanks Selphie." she said.

"No problem," Selphie said. "So uhh…is Xu…?"

"Like I said earlier, she appears to have no physical injuries. She should theoretically be fine when she wakes up." said Dr. Kadowaki.

"What do you mean 'theoretically'?" inquired Quistis. Dr. Kadowaki stuffed her hands in her pockets, and seemed to casually start to look at Selphie, Xu, the floor, anywhere other than Quistis.

"Well the fact of the matter of is that when I was running some cerebral scans, I found some irregularities: the number of wrinkles to her brain where well below average." horror struck Quistis sharply and painfully while Selphie was left quite confused.

"Meaning what…?" Selphie asked, not understand the doctor's explanation.

"Meaning Xu's mind has reverted back to…" Quistis began.

"…the age of adolescence, I estimate." finished Dr. Kadowaki.

"But…ho-"

"I don't know how it happened. Of course this is just one theory that might explain what will happen to her. There are other possibilities, but this theory seems most likely." answered Dr. Kadowaki, again before Quistis could speak out her question. Quistis gave herself a few minutes to recover from the doctor's words before proceeding to speak.

"Is there anything that you can do?" she asked with clear desperation and anxiety.

"There is nothing I can do, with modern medicine, to help," said Dr. Kadowaki, "but I will see if I can't find a solution."

"Thank you." Quistis muttered. She then proceeded up to Xu's bed, and fruitlessly attempted to pull her body upward. "Selphie, help me out." she requested from her friend. Selphie silently obeyed, and the both of them managed to put Xu on Quistis's back; Selphie helped to support some of Xu's weight from behind. Xu didn't' stir awake from the sudden movement, she continued to slumber on and on.

"You're going to take her back to your room now?" asked Dr. Kadowaki.

"Yes, and I'll be sure to inform you if your theory is correct or not" replied Quistis. With that as her final words, she led Xu, Selphie, and herself back to her and Xu's dorm.

When they reached the room, Selphie, and Quistis were mutually careful in placing of the sleeping SeeD on her and Quistis's bed. Quistis placed a cover on her lover's sleeping body. The instant she finished, she saw that Xu was starting to wake up.

She intently watched her lover's eyes peeling open, and have their gaze slowly focus into perspective. Xu took one look at Quistis and quickly flung her arms around her. She then quickly placed a single, yet strong, kiss on her lover's cheek.

Thinking she knew where this was going, Selphie decided upon leaving the two alone. "Well I should probably leave you two-

"Mommy!" yelled Xu. Quistis and Selphie's eyes widened with surprise. Had they heard her right? Selphie looked around to see if there was somehow a mysterious fourth lady in the room; there was none. "Mommy! Mommy!" Xu yelled again, with great enthusiasm. Xu gripped more tightly unto her lover as she spoke. Xu then buried her face in her lover's chest, and said "I've missed you mommy."

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**Author's note:** Well that's chapter one. One of my first thoughts on Xu was to have her mind be at the adolescent stage, but I thought the toddler age would be better since I have better humorous ideas at that age than adolescence.

People should note how long I take to get an update, because I am one slow writer. So I'm sorry if you're expecting an update to this in like a week or two, because it will definitely take longer than that. Also, take note that I won't abandon or suddenly decide to discontinue a story. All my stories I intend to write until the end. So if you check up on my stories long enough you'll find updates to them sooner or later.

Just remember to review and vote whether you want the IrvinexSelphie, and FuijinxSeifer pairing to be mutual or not. It doesn't matter to me, but I'd like to give reviewers some power over this fic. Also I'd like to ask, who should Zell be with? I have no idea if he should be with the library girl, or somebody else. I'm leaving that entirely to reviewers, or he'll just stay single throughout the fic. These are your choices to make reviewers. Have fun choosing. That and does the library girl even have a name? I'll make one up if she doesn't.

Anyway, here's a preview to a little part from chapter two. Just remember that this is a rough draft right now. Meaning this is subject to change or even being cut out from the final draft.

Chapter two: Growing up

"So how's Mommy-hood?" giggled the young train enthusiast.

"Very funny Selphie…" replied a worn out Quistis, sarcastically. Quistis collapsed to a nearby chair, and laid her head on the table. She then took the hot dog from Zell's hands.

"Hey that was…" Zell looked into Quistis's worn out, bitter, murderous eyes and decided it was best not to argue with her right now. One measly hot dog over his life was a sacrifice he was willing to make. He then finished his sentence, "…yours."


	2. Growing Up

**Warning:** This story contains girlxgirl romance. So if you don't like the idea of romance between two women then stop reading now!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Final Fantasy 8 or any of it's characters.

**Author's Note: **This chapter will have more humor than anything, or at least that's what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm no good at making things funny, but I'll try nonetheless.

Also note that I'm sorry if I led people on to think that chapter one was suppose to funny…it was actually suppose to set up a few things so the laughter can begin in chapter two!

Anyway here's chapter two!

**Chapter Summary:** Quistis has to raise the mind of her 5 year old girlfriend. Need I say more?

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**Chapter Two: Growing up**

It had been a few days since the whole "mommy" incident, and Quistis was finally able to relax. She was finally able to just sit in a chair, have a blanket over herself, and see nothing but the inside of her eyelids. She was finally able to channel her thinking into a dream. She was finally able to sleep peacefu-

"Mommy, mommy! I need to go potty!" yelled out a very awake Xu. Xu was suppose to have been tired from all of today's childish running around, playing, and talking, but that's not true anymore. Now she's pulling off her "mommy's" blanket and trying to shake her awake.

Although Quistis wasn't given enough time to fall asleep, so she involuntarily opened her eyes, already filled with days of insomnia, and took a gander at what's suppose to be her girlfriend. "Look sweetie, mommy is tired right now, can't you go by yourself this one time?" Quistis asked in mild irritation. The lack of sleep was getting to her.

"No no! What if that man appears in there again? I'm scared to go alone mommy! Please come with me, you have to!" pleaded Xu. Of course Quistis knew that it was hard to teach a 5 year old that nothing scary will actually come at them if they're alone in the restroom, or that the boogie man doesn't exist-or Santa for that matter-so she had not choice but to go in with her.

'How did I get stuck with raising my girlfriend from the toddler years?'

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"Ok, everyone knows why we're here right?" asked Squall, in a room full of his friends.

"Yeah, yeah. One of us will help out with Xu for today, and the others will laugh at whoever is stuck with her," replied Irvine. "Remind me again: what's the alternative to not doing this?"

"Either be part of the volunteer group or get stuck cleaning all of Balamb Garden, for three years." answered Selphie.

"Oh yeah…that's why I'm doing this instead, but after what happened to Zell, I'd rather take the cleaning job." Irvine pulled out a lump of what appeared to be…flesh. "So can he still hear out of that ear or what?"

"It was just a small piece of his ear. It's not like he lost the ability to hear because of it." Selphie said.

"Besides, it's his fault for not allowing Xu to play with him. Just goes to show to not make a little girl angry." Rinoa stated in a matter-of-factly tone.

"That's right. So no one other than Zell has any excuse to not be here for our volunteer meeting," said Squall. "So if anyone wants to not volunteer then you can take on the alternative. Just remember that you won't be cleaning the Garden with the usual cleaning supplies. Just a toothbrush and nothing else. So if anybody would rather do that then raise your hand now."

Nobody raised their hands.

"So everyone here is ready for to take the volunteer selection process?"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright…" everyone pulled back one hand behind them. It almost looked as if they were each ready to punch the other one next to them. "on the count of three….one….two….three!"

Everyone then made their selection of paper, rock, or scissors for the rest of the group to see. And the looser was…

"Aw shit…" muttered Irvine.

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Quistis was in the restroom, with Xu on the "potty". She was busy trying to get any sort of sleep, even if it was standing up! While Xu was busy doing her business. She was nearly halfway at doing the impossible and was succeeding at sleeping while standing, but a knock on the door prevented her from finishing. She opened her eyes half-way and yelled from the restroom, "Just a minute." she then addressed to her "daughter", "Sweetie, do you think that you can be a big girl, and finish doing the potty by yourself while mommy goes to see who's at the door?"

Xu nodded simply. Quistis then left the restroom, closing the door behind her, and then made her way to the only exit she could take away from this 5 year old nightmare. She opened the door, and found a lone gunman at the door. "What do you want Irvine? I don't have time to help you with Selphie right now so if you could just…"

"I'm here to help you with Xu. Today is supposed to be my turn." he stated half-heartedly.

"Good! There's a baby monitor at her bed, and the other is…well I can't remember anymore, just go find it. There's also some juice, and a little snack in the baby bag, I trust you know where that is. She's in the restroom right now and will be out shortly." spoke Quistis in an instructor way, slowly making her way out of the room, and Irvine unwittingly making his way in.

"Hey wait a minute…you make it sound like you're not gonna be here with me." said Irvine.

"Oh yes…that's because…" Quistis spoke slowly, one foot ready to make a sudden lunge. "…I'm not, bye!" she said quickly, running away from the dorm as fast as she could.

"Aw shit…" muttered Irvine a second time today. Just as he was taking a look around to find all the things Quistis told him about, a flush was heard from the restroom. His focus turned to the door that was slowly opening. Fear now flooding through his body, he braced himself for what he knew would be his last moments sane. Soon, the little nightmare-known as Xu-came out of the door, and looked at him.

"Huh? Where's mommy…hey wait a minute…you're that man that appeared in the restroom before!" cried out Xu.

"Aw shit…" muttered Irvine a third time today.

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Meanwhile, in the Garden's Cafeteria, Selphie, and an ear-bandaged Zell were sitting at a table. Zell with a plate of the last hot dog the cafeteria will see today and Selphie with just a simple drink. Quistis notice the two, and slowly made her way to them, she saw an empty chair between, and that was the last thing she saw before closing her eyes and collapsing down onto the chair. Her face lay directly on the table, and didn't seem to be getting up anytime soon.

"Wow, a few days of non-stop parenting and miss mommy is out for the count." stated the train enthusiast.

"Very funny Selphie," gritted Quistis through the table, sarcastically. She then lifted her face up, and took note of Zell's hot dog. She quickly took it as Zell was about to scoop it up himself.

"Hey that's…" Zell looked into Quistis's worn out, bitter, murderous eyes and decided it was best not to argue with her right now. One measly hot dog over his life was a sacrifice he was willing to make. He then finished his sentence, "…yours."

Quistis then ravenously began to munch on her newly acquired hot dog. After a few seconds of devouring the hot dog, she felt parched. So she then gave Selphie a look that asked "can I have your drink?".

"Go ahead. I'm not gonna stop ya." answered Selphie.

So then Quistis took the drink away from Selphie and began to gulp it down as fast as she could, chocking a little in the process. When she finished, she laid her head back down on the table to get some rest. Zell then looked at both the girls and wondered.

"Hey, how come you didn't even ask for my hot dog, but you asked Selphie for her drink?"

"Because it's like how I said before: Getting to eat hot dogs that one time was a fluke. You're cursed to never eat another one ever again." Selphie answered.

"Shut up about that! That's not true at all. I'll have another hot dog in my stomach by the end of the week!" proclaimed Zell.

"Yeah sure." said Selphie disbelievingly. She then turned to Quistis. "So, Quistis, have ya heard of the latest GF rumor going around?"

She strained her face to move so that it looks halfway over to Selphie, but was still mostly glued to the table. "I don't think I have."

"Oh yeah, I heard of that one. It's the one where the GFs disappear right?" joined in Zell.

"Disappear?" asked Quistis.

"Yeah. They say that many SeeD have gone on missions, and that their GFs all disappear on them. It's happened to a lot of people so everyone thinks that somebody is stealing their GFs." informed Selphie. "I was just wanting to tell you so that you know to be careful while on a mission."

"Thanks, but with taking care of Xu, I don't think I'll be on a mission for a while. I'm supposed to take her to a check-up in a few days, to see if she has made any progress." said Quistis.

"Progress? What are you talking about?" asked Zell.

"Well she went on to get a check-up yesterday and it showed that her mind had advanced itself a few months. Dr. Kadowaki assumes that she'll continue to advance and return to normal." explained Quistis.

"Aw, that's no fun. I was hoping to give Xu 'the talk'." pouted Selphie.

"Jeez. Having 'the talk' from you would freak me out. Who knows how Xu would react." said Zell.

"Oh so you want me to tell you? Alright! You see it first starts around the age of ten, for girls, and that's when-hey where are you going!" Selphie watched as her lecture was going to waste, for Zell was running out the Cafeteria. He covered his ears with his hands, and shouted "I'm not listening!" over and over until he was out of sight. She changed focus on Quistis, and asked, "So can I still tell Xu?"

"I'd rather you not provoke her developing mind, thank you very much." stated Quistis in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Please?"

"Selphie, why would you speak with her about that anyway? She already has gone through the whole puberty process anyway. So why does it matter?"

"Because her mind doesn't know that. So I want to tell her when her mind thinks it's going through it. So can I?"

"Ugh. Fine. If you're going to insist on it that much then go ahead." conceded Quistis. 'I don't know why I even try to change her mind. It's like speaking to a very hyper, and very childish wall.' she thought.

"Woohoo! Thanks a bunch! So where is the five year old anyway?"

"I left her with Irvine, better him than me."

"Oh. I wonder how it's going."

----------

'Somebody kill me now! No, screw that, I'll do it myself. Where's my gun?' Irvine thought this as he was fulfilling his promise to the five-year old nightmare.

"So would you like more tea Mr. Pervert?" asked Xu. While she said tea, she didn't really mean it because she doesn't like tea, she instead meant juice. She had a can of said liquid in her hands.

"Uhh. No thanks. But hey, I thought we agreed for you to stop calling me that." said Irvine. 'Damn, she knew what that meant by the age of five? Making a deal with her is really gonna bite me in the ass at some point.' he thought.

"Not until we finish this tea party!" snapped Xu in a boss-like manner.

"Right…until this is over…" he dawdled. He inwardly cursed himself for not having his gun with him.

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"…So I left him with her baby bag of things before he could figure it out," Quistis finished explaining to Selphie her daring escape from the menace that is her 5 year old girlfriend. They were both walking back to her dorm to relieve Irvine from his duties, "You know she's a great girlfriend, but a total 5 year old nightmare."

"Yup! Totally agree with that. I still have those cuts I got from her when I was trying to clean up her toys."

"That's because you weren't 'cleaning up'. You were stealing her toy train from her."

"I couldn't help it. A voice in my head told me to. The train was calling out to me! I swear it was!"

"…" Quistis sighed inwardly. 'You're more childish right now, than Xu is at 5 years old,' thought Quistis.

----------

"Tea time is over!" declared Xu. Irvine shot up and made a strong cheer. He was overwhelmed with joy that it was over. "I'm sleepy now. I'm going to go to bed."

Irvine did a mental back flip of joy in his head. 'Finally!' He welcomed the change of pace, and helped her into her bed and pulled her covers over her body. He gave her a kiss good night, and slumped to a chair. Letting his body relax, but he was soon interrupted by a knock on the door. He walked up to the door and opened it. Outside were Quistis and Selphie.

"Sorry for running out like that. I just wanted a break that's all. So how is the little girl?" asked Quistis, as she walked into her dorm.

"Shh. She finally went to sleep." whispered Irvine.

"Oh good. I was worried that she might not get to sleep, because of her bathroom boogieman." Quistis whispered back.

"There's no problem about that anymore mommy!" cheered Xu, clearly not asleep yet and just as clearly hearing their conversation. "Me and him made an agreement. So nothing will happen to me anymore. Right, Irvine?"

"Excuse me?" asked Quistis, trying to quickly absorb all the information.

"Irvine was my boogieman, but he promised he won't do it anymore. Isn't that great mommy?"

"Why yes. Yes it is. Mr. Boogieman would come here with me for a minute?" Quistis asked Irvine in her most falsely sweet voice she could create.

'Aw shit…' thought Irvine.

* * *

**Author's Note:** There! Another chapter done! This is the first time I finished a second chapter for any of my fics. So I feel I've achieved a personal milestone for myself. Anyway I hope this was a funny chapter, and I would like to hear people's opinions on those pairings I mentioned in chapter 1 

Sorry if this chapter looks like some sort of parody of FF8, because that was not my intention at all. I just tried to make it as funny as possible while staying reasonably realistic. I wasn't trying to make fun of or bash any character or FF8 in general. Again: sorry if that's what it looks like what happened.

I also want to say that chapter 3 won't be out for a while, because of how long it's going to be. It'll probably be almost as long as this chapter. So it's not because I'm not working on this fic, but it's because I'm working hard on making it informative, serious, dramatic, and such. So I'm choosing my words carefully and making sure certain events occur in the chapter, so look forward to it everyone!

Anyway, another preview to the next chapter so you know what to expect!

Chapter Three: The Rival's Interference

"So you see, you and her hated each other. Does any of that ring a bell?" Seifer asked Xu. A mock concern smeared his face.

"I don't remember any of it, but I think I can believe you." Xu found it hard to fully comprehend it all, but she felt she should believe him.

"There ya go. Well I gotta get going. So I'll see you later. Just remember not to believe anything Quistis says, alright?" With that Seifer took his leave of Balamb Garden once more. Quistis soon came to greet her amnesia-induced lover.

"Hello Xu. Ready for me to teach you…" her words died quickly as she saw Xu glaring at her.


	3. The Rival's Interference

**Warning:** This story contains girl/girl romance. So if you don't like the idea of romance between two women then stop reading now!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to Final Fantasy 8 or any of it's characters.

**Author's Note:** Alright, I'm up to chapter three on this! Well last chapter was just a chapter for you to laugh a lot, but this chapter will try to be serious with some laughs.

Since I've had only one person request a pairing, and since it was so nicely written I have no choice but to listen to them. So now this fic will have, eventually, a ZellxSelphie pairing. Of course I have plenty of time, not to mention chapters, before the end so I'll be sure not to rush out the pairing and make it seem OOC. I'll be sure to do my best to make it IC. Now what to do with Irvine…

Also, I want to say right now that I don't know if those tips on the whip are true. I tried to look at things logically when saying that, and I might be totally wrong on it. Same thing with double and triple junctions. I would imagine that junctioning GFs would be a huge strain on the body and not just cost you your memories, and that Squall is one of the few who can handle more than one junction at once.

I also want to clear up that I am sort of a fan of Seifer. I don't hate the guy, but I don't like the SeiferxQuistis pairing either. And I don't bash in my stories so if it seems like I am then I'm sorry for that.

Oh and as for the time difference. Chapter two occurred a week ago. So chapter three starts a week after chapter two.

So here is chapter three!

**Chapter Summary:** Xu is suffering from amnesia, while Quistis tries her best to cope and help her recover.

* * *

**Chapter Three: The Rival's Interference**

"Miss Trepe, is this correct?" asked Xu, after the umpteenth failed attempt to properly attack a motionless boulder with a whip. Her attack's fault was that while she did strike the boulder, only a small crack was inflicted on the boulder.

Just this morning, the Xu and Quistis had visited the infirmary to get Xu's daily update on her health. Xu had regained her intelligence and motor skills to her actual age, although she had no memories of anything. Dr. Kadowaki had diagnosed her as having amnesia. It was highly unlikely that Xu had lost all her memories that quickly due to a GF. So it seemed as the next logical step to assume she must've experienced something traumatic during her mission. So traumatic that she mentally repressed all her memories to accommodate for it. What exactly could've happened in that mission? Quistis kept trying to answer.

"No, no. You see, you first build up some momentum above your head, and then strike an enemy. It'll more powerful doing it that way. The way you do it is a quick strike. It's good when you have no time to build up power, but the standard method is to just twirl it around your head once. That way it's a perfect balance of speed and power." lectured Quistis.

Quistis walked up behind Xu. She placed her hands parallel to Xu's, both now having a grip on Xu's whip. With Quistis guiding her, Xu was able to perform a standard whip attack. This time, a much larger crack was left on the boulder. "Got an idea on how it works now?"

"I think so."

"Good, then try it by yourself now."

Quistis let go, and maintained a distance so as to not be accidentally hit by Xu. Xu twirled the whip counterclockwise once, above her head. When the whip reached the one o' clock spot she brought the whip to ground level to strike the boulder at a remarkable speed. The boulder had a few pebbles chip away from it.

"Good. Very well done," Quistis commented. She then continued, "well I guess we can leave your SeeD training at that for this morning. Let's get some breakfast."

"Okay." agreed Xu. So they both silently walked out of the training area; luckily avoiding any confrontation with a monster. As they both silently walked out, Quistis had time to think and reflect.

'So this is how its going to be is it? Having to pretend that there's nothing between us? Of course I can always just tell her everything and hope she understands. But I won't…because…' Quistis continued to contemplate on the whole situation until she absent-mindedly bumped into another person.

A quick glance at her surroundings and she realized she had Xu and herself to the entrance of Balamb Garden. Another glance and she saw that she had bumped into a familiar face with a scar across it. He had blonde hair, wielded a gunblade, and was not someone she particularly wanted to see anytime soon.

"My my. Dying to see me that much?" he pronounced, less of a questions and more as a victorious claim. With no wait for an answer, he wrapped one arm on her waist, and the other at the back of her head. With both arms, he pulled Quistis close to him. He closed his eyes and prepared his lips to receive a kiss, but instead received a slap from her.

"Seifer Almasy, I have told you before that I'm not interested so just stop it already!" yelled Quistis, through a quick burst of energy to separate herself from him. She was scolding him harshly, while Xu just watched all this unfold in front of her, not ever considering the idea of jumping in. 'If it had been any other circumstances, she would have already have held my hand, put her arms around me, or even have kissed me in front of him…'

"You know you're only pretending to be hard to get. Deep down, you're dying to have me." announced Seifer proudly.

"Ugh. I don't have time for this today." muttered Quistis. She quickly gathered her thoughts, and said aloud, "I'm not going to get into a pointless argument with you today, so just have the dignity to get away from me!" Leaving him with no time to speak, Quistis firmly grabbed hold of Xu's arm and pulled her along, back inside the Garden.

Seifer was left there, feeling a little speechless, but mostly just annoyed how difficult she's pretending to be. 'She totally wants me.' he assured himself.

He was left alone; standing at the entrance of the Garden he once considered his home. It's odd how he had once been the knight to the sorceress who tried to destroy this place. Now he's here, standing before the place, with no intention of harming the Garden.

He very much would like come here often to visit his beloved former instructor, but his duties of being the leader of Delling City's army kept him busy. So now he has to check his schedule to make any sort of time to be able to visit his old home.

He wasn't left to think by himself for long, for his two subordinates soon came walking out of the prestigious Garden. "So what'd ya find out?" Seifer asked, eager to learn anything and everything of interest. Whether the information helped impress Quistis or it would help combat against Garden, if the need ever arise, wasn't important.

"We found out that that girl, ya know. Xu, ya know. Has amnesia, ya know." Raijin informed.

"Sweet. Tell me more." And both Raijin and Fuijin collectively told him all the details of how that came to be.

----------

Quistis and Xu were in the Quad. They had picked up a simple lunch to take with them, and were in the middle of eating it.

"Wow, this is delicious. So you're saying we get to eat this every day?" Xu inquired, after she finished off a piece of toast.

"On days that we're not on missions." Quistis replied, after a quick gulp of juice.

"And these missions you talk about, what are they about?"

"They vary depending on the client's wishes. Everyone who lives in this Garden is either a SeeD or trying to become one. SeeD originally were made to combat something, but those days are gone and now we only work as mercenaries." Quistis summarized, trying to answer any further questions Xu would think of.

"Oh ok. I think I get it all." Xu said, absorbing about half of what Quistis just said. Her hands darted for another piece of toast to much on, but found she had ran out; she compromised with a bit of bacon. She took a look around and couldn't help but smile seeing all the people and scenery around her.

The sky alone was beautiful: birds flying in the distance, a bright sun beaming down gently, and kind, pale-white clouds forming the shape of random pleasantries. On the ground, could be seen many people in the same uniform. Their ages varying from fumbling and stumbling little boys, to athletic and social men. Xu peered through all the groups until one group in particular caught her eye.

"Ms. Trepe, what are those people doing?" she asked, pointing towards a group to the left of them. Quistis turned to that direction and was confused as to who she was pointing at. One group of females were just talking, a boy and a girl were playing some cards, a couple were making out, a group were studying, and the list went on.

"Where?"

"There." Xu reinforced her pointing with jabbing motions with her finger. Quistis tried once again to find who she meant. She was pointing to a corner, and at that corner were only four people. Two were making out, and two were playing Triple Triad.

Quistis observed the couple making out, and let her mind wander. She thought of how she wanted to join the couple in the corner with Xu. To be lost in each other as their tongues explored familiar territory. To slowly remove each others clothes, so that they could…

"Miss Trepe?" Xu's voice hurled Quistis back into reality. The reality was that something like that won't be happening anytime soon, if at all. "So what are those things they're using?"

Quistis looked to where Xu was pointing at one more time, this time she realized her finger led her field of vision directly onto the card players. She could still see the couple making out in the corner of her eye. Her former thoughts were forming again until she drove them away. 'No, get your mind out of the gutter!' she mentally scolded herself. She waited until she had no more such thoughts before answering Xu's question.

"Those are cards to play Triple Triad. It's a popular card game among the SeeD. I can teach you how to play if you like." offered Quistis, but secretly wanted to add, "although you should know how to play. Along with many other details of your life."

"Yes, I'd like that."

"Then I'll go get my cards. I won't take long so just wait here while I go get them. Okay?"

"Okay" After she heard Xu's reassurance, Quistis left the Quad for her dorm.

It was a simple trek. Along the way she had multiple stares at any given second. Some were lovingly, others were belligerent. Ever since Quistis and Xu were publicly announced as a couple, nobody looked at her the same way again. Her fan club had increased ever since. According to Selphie (who infiltrated the fan club by pretending to be a loyal fan), most members are now female, and very few are male.

The females would often look at her in the halls. Half ready to pounce on her if she approached them too closely, half subduing that urge. She winced at the memory of having a few of them be so bold as to ask her out, hug her, or even kiss her in public.

The males had only two words to describe them: "devoted" and/or "pigs". A few were so devoted to her that this new information did not shake their everlasting commitment. Others were part of her fan club for the sake of being pigs with human characteristics, also known as men. They yearned for the sight of any sort of display of affection between Xu and Quistis. In the past, the couple wouldn't so much as look at each other to torment those certain individuals.

Of course there was also the rest of Balamb Garden, the ones who weren't fans. They are the bulk of the population. Although Headmaster Squall had placed some policies and rules that prevented major discrimination, little things such as glares and hate letters weren't stopped. They just despised and avoided the couple; as if they were some sort of disease; as if they would catch whatever they had if they were near them for too long.

Just as she figured, once she reached her dorm, there were a pile of letters addressed to either her or Xu and none, she knew from experience, would be the least bit polite. Her fans tended to deliver them face-to-face or slide them under the door; not leave them on the door mat with big bulging letters that that had "I hate you" or "You sick fuck" as an addressee.

Today was a rare occasion though, for someone also posted a large paper with big letters that read "GET OUT OF BALAMB GARDEN YOU FUCKING HOMOS" on the door. She had just finished reading the message as the authoritative figure of Balamb Garden came walking into the dorm hallway. He looked over to Quistis's doorway and ran straight in front of the door to make sure he wasn't mistaken. He was shocked to find out that he read the message correctly.

"Quistis? What is all this?" he asked before fully understanding everything. Quistis turned to face him, but gave him no answer. A short and simple silence later and he figured it out by himself. "Damn it. I can't believe people are actually still doing this even though they know the punishment is expulsion. Just what are they thinking!" He clenched both hands into firm, round fists. Both ready and willing to strike at anyone who looked at him funny.

"Everything is fine. Nothing to get angry about." Quistis said coolly. "I'm sure they have their reasons so just let them be."

"What? How can you say that! You more than anyone should be angry about this."

"Squall, just listen to me. There are some people who will come to accept me and Xu, and some that never will. So it's better not getting worked up over those who won't, and since you're here, can you dispose all of this for me?" Without waiting for a reply, she strode into her dorm, and obtained her cards. She pocketed the cards, and slumped her body on her bed. She pulled out a necklace from under her clothing. It was a half of a golden, heart-shaped necklace. She stared at the name inscribed on it. The necklace itself was rather small, but it was still managed to hold a person's name on it. It was a name of someone she loved dearly. She fiddled around with the necklace, as she let her thinking flow freely on what she just witnessed in Squall.

'I don't think I've seen him show that much emotion about anything ever. Being with Rinoa must be really influencing him. Yes, he's been changed for the better socially and emotionally being with her. Being with…'

----------

"So you see, you and her have actually always hated each other. Does any of that ring a bell?" Seifer asked Xu. A mock concern smeared his face, but Xu didn't realize that.

Fuijin and Raijin were outside the Quad, being lookouts in case Quistis or anyone else that might try to interfere. Seifer needed this time to crush any sort of advantage his rival in love may have had before now. He knew she couldn't remember the truth of her past. This is when she is most vulnerable, so this is when he can strike and sever the bond Quistis and Xu may have shared previously.

"I don't remember any of it, but I think I can believe you." Xu found it hard to fully comprehend it all, but she felt she should believe him. It felt like some of what he said had some nostalgia. He had kindly greeted her, and politely asked for her time. He had offered her a sandwich, and had kindly answered all her immediate questions of who he was. He was a perfect gentleman to her. So of course she should believe him.

He had told her that they had all known each other since kids. She was always weaker than everyone in the orphanage they grew up in, but he had always protected her. The one he protected her the most was from Quistis Trepe. She was a horrible bully to Xu, and always enjoyed doing mean things to her. Taking away her books, tripping, her, and throwing food at her were some of her favorite tactics.

Xu was always grateful for Seifer's assistance. She had even come to love him. One day, she confessed her feelings for him, but it was too late. Seifer was already in a relationship with Fuijin. She was crushed, but they had always remained good friends.

"So you understand the situation now?"

"Yes, and thank you for telling me. She was probably helping me just so that she could hurt me worse." thought Xu out loud.

"Yeah probably. Well I'm sorry, but I gotta get going. So I'll see you later. Just remember to be careful around Quistis, alright?" With that, Seifer felt he inflicted enough damage. So he left the Quad, gathered Fuijin and Raijin, and took his leave of Balamb Garden.

----------

In the hallway, three card players were walking, their decks pocketed, towards the Quad. They were silent until a friend of theirs ran into them.

"Hey guys. What's up?" asked Selphie.

"Yo. We're gonna teach Xu how to play Triple Triad." replied Zell.

"Oh cool! Can I come, can I come? I'll help!"

"…do you know how to play?" asked Squall.

"Yeah, of course! Xu taught me a while ago."

"Then you'll probably want this…" Zell reluctantly went into his pockets, and rummaged through his deck. He pulled out a couple of cards before finding a specific one. He held it up in front of Selphie. It was a card with her own picture on it. He then explained, "Squall gave me your card since he didn't need it. I've used it a couple of times and it's helped a lot. Since it's your face you should keep it."

Zell was expecting a word of gratitude or a silent praise for his selflessness, but got no such thing. Instead she quickly snatched it from his hands, nearly tearing it in half, and examined it closely. Looking for some sort of faults or irregularities on the card. "Eww. I can't believe you gave this to him Squall! Who knows what he's done to me at night." Selphie complained to Squall, ignoring Zell completely. She finished her examination and diagnosed, "Phew. I'm clean."

"Hey! I resent that!"

"Oh, what's wrong with me? Am I not good enough for you?"

"Err…well…that's…I," he kept fumbling for words nervously, until he just burst in anger and said, "Oh forget it! I'm out of here." With that, Zell marched off towards the Garden's entrance.

"Well that was fun. What next?" asked Selphie.

"Selphie…Why do you always do that to him?" asked Quistis.

"I dunno. It's just fun."

"Maybe you should go apologize to him."

"Aww…do I have to?"

"Yes…" answered Quistis, sternly eyeing her.

"Alright fine…" and Selphie solemnly walked away.

----------

Zell was coming out of Balamb Garden, and ran as fast as he could to Balamb. 'I could go to see my mom and hang out in Balamb for a while,' he thought. While running on the road, he started to hear echoes. Voices ahead of him. Three of them. He couldn't hear everything, but he heard some words.

"Hahaha…FOOLED…Quistis…Mine…ya know…" Their voices gave it all away. Seifer just visited Balamb Garden.

'I wonder what he's talking about that involves Quistis…' thought Zell. Zell ran faster towards Balamb.

Selphie exited Balamb Garden just in time to see a figure running towards Balamb. 'Must be Zell.' she thought.

----------

Squall and Quistis were silently walked towards the Quad. The first one to speak was Squall.

"Hey Quistis."

"Yes, Squall?"

"I was wondering about Xu…You've said that her mind returned back to her age, so why does she need all these lessons? She's needed to learn how to combat enemies, how to cook, and even how to play cards. If she's back to normal, then why is she going through all this?"

Quistis sighed heavily. She didn't want to go over what Dr. Kadowaki had told her, but it seemed that if her leader wanted to know, then she'd have to explain.

"Yes, her mind's motor skills, and capacity to learn are at her typical age, but she doesn't have her memories. Her personal memories such as learning all those things you mentioned, and about her past are all a blank for her. Dr. Kadowaki concluded that something extreme happened to her during her last mission. So extreme, that she had no memories beyond the point of five years old, like when we first saw her. And now that her mind's skills went back to her rightful age, she has her memories being the only thing missing. So now I'm working on teaching her everything she knew before, and all of you are helping me."

"What happened in the mission?"

"That's…what I'd like to know…" Quistis didn't even try to speak now. She was too busy contemplating on Xu's predicament.

'I guess I can't tell you yet then…I'll wait until your feeling better,' thought Squall.

----------

Zell followed Seifer's group all the way to Balamb's entrance. They hadn't entered the town yet. They were only outside of town, conversing among each other. Zell squatted down in a surrounding of bushes, wanting to hear everything they had to say.

The bushes themselves were rather small, but it was all he could use to hide. Everything else was open ground. Seifer and his group were much to far to hide behind a building in Balamb, or hide behind some trees in a forest. His only choice was to crouch low in the bushes, and avoid making too much rustling in them.

"So then she said that she believed me. What an idiot!" all three of them howled with laughter. "So there's no chance of Xu and Quistis making up any time soon. That is…unless…"

Seifer immediately threw his gunblade like a spear. The tip of it struck the ground, a millimeter away from where Zell was hidden. He made a quick little jump in the air, causing rustling in his hiding spot.

"…Unless a certain spy goes and reports it." finished Seifer. Fuijin, Raijin, and Seifer immediately converged on the bush and cornered him. Fuijin and Raijin took out their own weapons, while Seifer approached the bush and pulled his gunblade out of the ground. He then pointed it within slashing distance of Zell's neck. "Ah. So it's chicken wuss. Playing spies are we?" he asked once he could make out the figure hidden in the bushes.

Zell didn't say anything.

"Well it seems your spying needs some improvement. You lost the game so you should be a good sport, and come on out now."

Zell didn't make to move. Seifer saw this and so he pressed his gunblade on Zell's bare neck. Strong enough only to cause a small little trickle of blood to ooze out. Zell knew he would start to do things far worse than cause more blood to trickle out if he didn't obey, so he got himself up, and Seifer quickly followed Zell's movements, his gunblade still on his neck.

"So chicken wuss, tell me, what exactly brings you over here? Came to spy for your friends right?"

"…I came for a walk" replied Zell darkly.

"Ah, I see. Very well. Go ahead and walk yourself on out of here then." Seifer said, removing the gunblade from Zell's neck. He rose down his gunblade, and stood motionless and expressionless before Zell.

Zell was left baffled. 'He's letting me go!' he thought. Zell took this a chance to get away. He'll abandon his plans to go to Balamb, and go visit another day. Right now, he had to get far away from Seifer.

He ran as fast as he could back towards Garden. Even if Seifer was going to immediately say something like "Psyche!" and point his gunblade to him again, he would keep running. He ran and ran until he felt a sudden sharp pain at the calf of his right leg. It was so sudden and sharp that it caused his whole body to loose its balance and drop to the ground. Zell looked at his leg, and saw that a gunblade was lodged into it. A further glance away and he saw Seifer's smirking at his great aim.

Seifer walked up to Zell and pulled his gunblade out of Zell. Zell screamed in pain, but Seifer didn't pay any attention to it. Fuijin and Raijin both once again appeared on either side of Zell, keeping him from escaping anywhere. "Now, now chicken wuss. You should know the rules of spies better. If you get caught you die. You should've known that. Besides, there's no way in hell I'm letting you go after what you heard. Quistis is mine!" Seifer raised his gunblade high into the air, ready to deliver a deathblow.

Zell, not hesitating, quickly gathered some dirt from the ground, and threw it into Seifer's eyes. Seifer growled in pain, and dropped his weapon. Zell took the opportunity to lunge his whole body away from his spot. He was in the air momentarily, but Raijin took that moment to strike him hard. Zell was knocked to a boulder. He was smashed into it head first.

"It seems…" Seifer spoke, as he cleaned away the last trace of dirt from his face. He bent down to pick up his gunblade. "…chicken wuss has grown some balls since last time. You have some nerve throwing dirt at me like that. You'll pay for that. Fuijin! Raijin! Hold him."

Fuijin and Raijin obeyed. They went to the boulder he was slammed to, and picked him up. Fuijin managed Zell's left side, and Raijin managed his right. They held tight grips on him, so as to prevent Zell from escape. It didn't matter though; Zell had not enough strength to escape. Maybe enough to take a step, but not enough to outrun three fit members of Delling's forces. He kept his body limp to conserve his energy.

"What? Chicken wuss playing possum now?" Seifer asked. Just as he finished those words, a lone figure came from the road leading to Balamb Garden. The figure was too far to recognize at the moment. No one took notice of it. "Get up, I gotta give you a beating to pay you back. I said get up!"

His fist went flying towards Zell, and connected with his cheek. The figure took note of that. Seifer then sent another fist that collided with his jaw. She-the figure-heard Zell's scream of pain clearly, and distinguished it as Zell, the friend she was suppose to find and apologize to. He then sent another fist firmly lodging itself in Zell's stomach. Selphie-the figure-now clearly understood the situation, and was ready to save the day.

Selphie stood within clear vision of the three assailants. They each focused her attention on her. They all witnessed her cast a charge of the Meteor spell with no thoughts of retaliation. The sky darkened momentarily as what little specks formed around them. The little specks grew at an alarming rate as they soon become distinguishable rocks. Soon the meteors she summoned made landings.

Seifer and his group were not going to allow themselves to get voluntarily struck by any of them. So they all mutually abandoned their victim and retreated straight to Balamb, avoiding any and all meteors that tried to hit them. Zell fell straight to the ground as he was released. Selphie rushed straight to the fallen Zell. She crouched down, and placed his head on her lap. All around them meteors were hurling themselves onto the ground.

"You alright?" she asked gently. Zell summed some of his battered energy to make eye contact with her, meteors completely missing the caster and the guy on her lap.

"…I'm fine." he wheezed out. The meteors hurling themselves to the ground are now starting to lessen in count.

"Heh. You're no good at taking a beating. What'd they want with you anyway?"

"They…" Zell began. The meteors had ended, and he could now be given a second to think quietly. He then quickly came to a sudden realization. "They were talking about Quistis and Xu! Seifer did something bad. We gotta go tell them!"

----------

At the Quad, Quistis and Squall have just reached Xu, and where about to feel the repercussions of Seifer's meddling. She was sitting on a bench, just staring into nothingness.

People were all around her, some in admiration and some in contempt, but she was not paying attention to anybody. She did not pay attention to the nervous chatter and equally nervous approaching fans of her; she did not pay attention to a group who were whispering every word they said except for words such as "dyke," or "slut" which they yelled rather loudly; and she most certainly didn't pay attention to the figures approaching her.

"Hello Xu. Ready to learn how to…" her words died quickly as she saw Xu shoot her focus onto her and glared at her.

"…What do you want?" Xu asked, coldly.

"Err…I was coming here to teach you to-

"Liar!"

"Huh?"

"Lying! You're lying! You're always lying!" Already unable to bear Quistis speak anymore lies to her, Xu stood straight up from the bench she was just on and ran away. Quistis and Squall didn't even try to stop her. They were both too confused on what just happened.

"…What just happened?" Squall asked to no one. The people around them began murmuring in hushed voices over the scene that just happened. Squall picked up on this, and shouted, "Everyone back to your rooms!"

They all obeyed, leaving only Squall and Quistis to ponder.

"I'm lying. I'm always lying…what did she mean?" she thought out loud.

"I don't know…wait, maybe she remembered something?" Squall suggested.

"If that's true, then what? What could she derive as me being a liar?" they both remained silent as they scrambled through their own memories for an answer.

"Well maybe…she remembered not a complete moment, but just a fragment…"

"If that's true…then there'd any number of memories she could've recalled."

"Yeah, you've often teased her, but you always did something to make up for it. It's possible she remembered only the teasing."

"Then I have to go clear this up right now." Squall immediately grabbed Quistis' arm. Before she could even begin to walk out the Quad, Squall stopped her. She turned to face him, and saw his face eagerly wanted to say something. Straining to find the words to approach the topic he wished to discuss. 'He was never this ridiculously easy to read before…'

"Quistis…what are you planning to say to her right now?"

"I don't know. Why does it matter? I just want her to understand the situation."

"If that's what you really want then why not just tell her everything yourself? Tell her everything about you, her, and about you two. Just say it all and have her remember it all."

Quistis stood still, her face looking down at the floor. "…I won't."

"Why?" Squall persisted.

"Because…if I do that, and she does remember everything…then she'll remember what happened to her during that mission."

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"Don't you understand!" she burst out. Her bottom lip quivering. "She mentally repressed all of her memories, because it was so traumatic! So whatever happened on her mission was bad enough for her to want to forget everything. Forget who she is, who I am, and what we mean to each other…I won't make Xu relive whatever happened just for my own selfish wants."

Her whole body trembled now. It was as if she was on the verge of tears or slapping Squall. He couldn't tell.

"Quistis…" he pulled on her arm and moved her whole body towards him. He then released his grip on her arm, and had both hands wrap themselves around Quistis's waist. Her whole face took refuge in his shoulders, and returned his embrace with her own hands wrapped around his neck. "…I'm sorry for upsetting you."

'He's apologizing to me? Maybe he's just…No…Not to ease his own conscious, but to relieve my own feelings. He's actually taking into consideration my own feelings when he said that. Not only that, but he's actually hugging me. Squall would never do this before…before Rinoa came along. What an amazing influence she has had on him.'

Any sort of further display of Rinoa's influence was cut short as Selphie came rushing into the Quad and stopping in front of the two. She stood momentarily shocked at what she was currently seeing. She quickly covered her eyes with her hands.

"Opps. My bad. I didn't see anything."

The headmaster and blonde SeeD quickly removed themselves from their embrace. Now keeping a distance from one another.

"Selphie, nothing happened." Quistis blurted out without thinking. Her face already flushed with embarrassment from what her petite friend was thinking.

"Besides, we're both in relationships with other people whom we love dearly. Nothing will ever happen." added Squall, who was equally embarrassed.

"Well hugging is like third base, for Squall. That's what I always figured." teased Selphie.

"You figured wrong…" said Squall crossly, already forgetting his embarrassment.

"Did you come here just to tease Squall?" Quistis asked playfully, just to get Squall back to being embarrassed for her own amusement. Her attempt failed.

"Oh right. I came here to tell you something Zell overheard."

"What is it?"

"Zell overheard Seifer talking. He said something about fooling someone, him lying to Xu and her believing him, you two never making up, and you always being his. Those are all the facts. Now we think…" whatever Selphie said after that, Quistis never heard. For she was already out the area, and dashing through the hallway.

Selphie stopped her message, as she saw the receiver was nowhere to be found. She then focused her attention towards the only person there.

"So Squall…" she dawdled as she slowly brushed up on him.

"…yes…?" asked Squall, slowly distancing himself away from her at the same time. Afraid of what the hyperactive SeeD might want.

"Since you hugged Quisty…do you think…"

"No." stated Squall firmly. Realizing what she wants.

"Aww come on! Just one! Just one little hug!"

"…"

----------

Quistis has just reached her dorm, and hoped that Xu would be found inside. She pressed the enter button on the panel only to realize that it was locked. Xu must've locked it.

'Seifer tried to break us apart again. Damn him! He must've sent his goons again to find information for him, and found out about Xu. Why else would Xu believe anything he says? Damn it. He might've succeeded this time…' thought Quistis.

She snapped herself out of her trance, and went back into reality. The reality was that she was standing right in front of her and her lover's room. Her lover, Xu, was tricked into believing a lie Seifer contrived, and she, Quistis, was here to stop him from succeeding.

She knocked on the door.

Footsteps were heard scrambling up to the door. A sound was heard, confirming the unlocking of the door. The door slided opened slightly.

Xu popped her head from the gap, and took note of who it was. She quickly tried to withdraw and have the door shut on her, but Quistis had placed an arm through the gap. Her arm was crushed instantly at the elbow joint, because Xu was already manually applying force to close the sluggish mechanical door.

Xu attempted furiously to try and get Quistis' arm to pull away from excess pain, or just have it sever from her arm, Xu didn't care. Internally, her bones were probably going to crack any second, but Quistis showed no signs of discomfort externally.

"Xu, let me in." she demanded.

"No! You'll…" she strained to say as she continued to force more pain on Quistis' joint.

"I'll what? What do you think I'll do? Well it doesn't matter, because I won't do anything, I promise. Please, just let me in." she spoke, as casual as she could muster.

"Do you really…promise?" she asked slowly. Now stopping her assault on the other woman's elbow, and letting go of the metallic door.

"Yes, I really promise." she said, as she yanked back her elbow from the doorway. As she did so, the door began to shut itself automatically. She then said through the door, "You choose if you want to let me in or not."

Silence ensued, with no movement from either party.

Xu was hesitant on whether she wanted to grant the other woman access or not. 'I don't know if I should believe her or not. She seems like she meant what she said, but so did Seifer. I feel like I can believe both of them, but…but…'

Quistis slunk her head down, defeated. 'You succeeded Seifer…' thought Quistis.

Xu soon heard what sounded like footsteps that were just in front of her door, now leaving. It was now or never, Xu had to make a decision right now. She quickly chose for the door to slide open and then to peer outside for Quistis. She saw her slowly striding away, and she rushed up to her. She grabbed her uninjured arm, and said, "Would you please come inside?"

----------

In the hallway, two figures were conversing among each other.

"Teeheehee. I gotta tell everyone about this!" Selphie said cheerfully. She gathered some air to be able to shout it out to everyone all at once, but Squall quickly poked her stomach, which caused all her collected air to come out.

"No, you don't."

"Aww. Why not?"

"If people learn I'm getting soft then everyone will just walk all over me."

"Aw, how sweet. You're calling yourself a softy now. Which is cool, because I got a hug from you! But not cool, because I wanna tell everyone! No one will believe me anyway. Please?"

"No." he stated commandingly.

"Then how 'bout something else? Like…oh I can tell Quisty that you-

Selphie got a light whack on the head from Squall's knuckle.

"You can't say that either."

"Why? Everyone else knows about it. About the only people who don't know are Quistis and Xu!"

"And you got demoted in rank because of it, remember? I told you not to tell anyone about that too."

"Yeah, but…it was begging me to tell everyone! It called out to me saying, 'Selphie, you must not keep this to yourself. Tell everyone about this.' It's true! The voice came to me in my dreams."

"Apparently nothing will stop you from telling everyone." Squall admitted grudgingly. "Alright, you can tell anyone you want about the hug."

"Yay-

"However…you'll be reassigned to live at the Island Closest to Hell if you do. We have SeeD who live there you know. They're some of our toughest, cold-hearted, deadliest troops we have. Feel like bunking with them?"

Selphie gulped. "…I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Glad we understand each other."

----------

"…That's all I have to say. You can believe me if you want or not." Quistis finished. She was gently stroking her damaged joint, and mentally noted herself to go visit Dr. Kadowaki after this. She stood standing in front of Xu, waiting for signs of recognition of what she just said.

"I see…" was all that she said. Xu was sitting on the edge of her bed, now looking down and reflecting on what the blonde haired woman just told her.

A long awkward silence, for Quistis, commenced.

"So do you think that you may be able to believe me?" Quistis asked, eager to get an answer but showed no signs of it in her voice.

"I don't know yet." she said with almost no reaction time to her question. It seemed as if Quistis had just interrupted something important for Xu.

"I understand." Quistis responded neutrally. She was trained to be emotionless when needed, and this was one of those times. If she showed any emotions it'd most definitely been sorrow.

Of course she had steeled herself into believing this would be the outcome, but she subconsciously wished it didn't come true. Quistis had just said something that must've sounded absolutely absurd to Xu. She had tried to completely contradict what Seifer had told her earlier, and now she must be feeling completely confused as to who to believe.

'It was a miracle enough to get her to let me in. I can't press my luck anymore. Maybe I can try again in a few days. Just let the idea sit in her head for a few days and then come back. That seems best.' Quistis thought. Quistis then mentally ordered her body to leave Xu alone, as her body reluctantly obeyed.

Xu didn't notice her absence until a good deal of time passed. She realized that she was no longer entertaining anyone today so she decided to just get some rest. It was late afternoon, but it was probably better to just not wake up until the next day. 'Yeah, that seems best.'

----------

"You'll be just fine. Just get a good night's rest and avoid using that arm for a while. That means no SeeD jobs for you, do you understand?" asked Dr. Kadowaki, as she was finishing Quistis's examination.

"So what do you think I should've done?" Quistis changed the subject to what she told her earlier. She had already told her about her decisions on keeping Xu's past a mystery to her, and of Seifer's attempt to drive them apart. Now she asked what would have been best for Xu.

Dr. Kadowaki sighed. There were a multitude of ways to answer her, but she knew that what Quistis needed right now was the most comforting response. "You did the best you could in your situation. You shouldn't second guess your actions after their said and done. Otherwise you'll only regret your actions, and that would lead to distractions in your life."

"But what if I should've done what Squall said? What if I just told her the truth right from the start? Seifer couldn't have confused her, and we'd be together."

"In the best case scenario that would be the outcome, yes. But the worst would be you driving her away from you permanently, and Seifer wouldn't have had to do anything to begin with."

"…" Quistis knew she was right. She wouldn't win in this argument no matter what she could bring up to defend herself. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, and saw that it was Dr. Kadowaki. Now in close proximity of her, and giving her a warm smile to look at.

"What you're doing now is also the best situation. She should be left alone right now to assess her situation. Give her enough time and I'm sure she'll come to understand what you said is true."

She beamed up to the former King and smiled. "Thank you." She then began to move to leave the infirmary, until Dr. Kadowaki's words stopped her.

"I don't know if I have to remind you, but…make sure she isn't junctioned to a GF. It would only complicate the recovery of her memories."

Not turning to face her, she replied, "I know. I've kept her GF safe and away from her."

"You mean you're doing a double junction? Are you sure you can handle it?"

Now turning to face her. "Probably not, but that's why I still have only one junction. Her GF is waiting for her in the library. No one would suspect that a GF would send itself into the story of a book."

"That's wise, on both accounts I suppose. One of the few SeeDs to ever be able to double junction in this Garden has been Squall. I even heard he was able to triple junction once."

"Yes, I remember that." Quistis began, remembering that battle with Ultimecia. Squall, needing that last bit of strength to deliver the final blow to the sorceress of the future, junctioned a third GF on top of his regular two. "His power was unreal at the time. Sorceress Ultimecia was truly no match after that, but with such amazing power came a heavy toll on his body and mind. I had heard from Rinoa that he was so weakened after the battle, that he had died somewhere in the future. It was only until she found him that he was revived."

Dr. Kadowaki suppressed a strong laugh. "That's just like our Squall, the new one of course. Doing all he can to protect the ones he love, even if it meant the cost of his life. That's probably why everyone wanted him as headmaster after Cid left with Edea back to their orphanage."

"Hmm. I wonder how things would've been if I was the sorceress…" muttered Quistis.

"What was that?" the former King asked her successor.

"Oh nothing. Just wondering where I'll be sleeping tonight." she lied, not too quickly and not to slow to arouse suspicion.

"Ah. That I can supply to you." Quistis looked at the former King confused. She watched as Dr. Kadowaki walked behind a curtained bed, and came back with a person's dorm card. "Here, this is Zell Dincht's dorm card. He'll be resting here for a while so he won't be there. Since you know him I assume there won't be a problem." she informed, holding the card in front of Quistis.

Quistis took the card into her hands, and pocket it. "Thank you. But I wasn't aware he was here at all actually. What happened to him?"

"I was informed by Selphie that Seifer had attacked him for one reason or another. Of course when it comes to Seifer, I don't need to know his motives, just the victim's status." she explained dully.

"Do you think I could see him right now?"

"Zell?"

Quistis nodded.

"Go ahead if you like, but just try and let him sleep."

Quistis then walked behind the curtain and looked into the host of the bed. She saw Zell lying there, sleeping soundly. He had a few bandages that covered his face, and on his right leg. It was unknown to Quistis whether he was sleeping soundly because of the wounds or some treatment that Dr. Kadowaki undoubtedly gave him.

Quistis then remembered Selphie's words, '_"Zell overheard Seifer talking. He said something about fooling someone, him lying to Xu and her believing him, you two never making up, and you always being his. Those are all the facts…"_ of course that must've come at a price. I should've figured that Seifer would do something like this to you, but I was too worried about Xu to immediately think about you. I'm sorry Zell.'

Quistis saw at the foot of his bed, a clipboard with his condition in detail. She picked it up to take a closer look, and skimmed around to see the key points.

"…concussion…multiple bruises…possible broken rib bones…damaged jaw…damaged muscles…" she read. She felt horrible knowing that he had to suffer for her sake. She continued reading, "…non-critical condition…Full recovery of bruises to be expected within a week…Full recovery of leg to be expected within a month…" she felt relieved to read that.

She placed the clipboard with his condition back to the foot of his bed, and felt appreciation for him. Here he was, lying on the bed, because he tried to help Quistis with her own problem.

She walked up to the top of his bed, and saw, even closer now, that Zell was resting peacefully right now. "Thank you." she murmured.

She silently exited the curtained bed, and nearly left the infirmary only to be stopped by the former King's words once more.

"You should remember this Quistis: You're the King, not the Sorceress. Don't get your roles mixed up."

Quistis made no response to that, she just continued to leave.

'I don't need to be reminded. I'm the King, not the Sorceress; I have the Heart, not the Knight. That's how things are, and that's how I want it to be.' she thought as she reached Zell's dorm.

She reached the dorm number as was inscribed in Zell's card. She saw the panel to the side of the door that notified her that the door was locked. So she slid the card through the slider of the panel, and it notified her that it was now unlocked. She then pressed the "enter" button that made the door slide inside the walls and grant entry into Zell's room. She entered the room, and heard the door close behind her. She was too tired to want to lock it right now, so she just dropped the dorm card in the nearest table and flopped herself on Zell's bed when she reached it.

She pulled out her half of the necklace that she wore under clothes. It was a half of a heart that had the inscription of Xu written on it. She looked at it, and smiled as to how she got it.

She thought about it briefly as she already laid her body on Zell's bed. Slowly having her body relax and lull itself into a deep sleep.

----------

A young figure was in front of her. This figure was a frightening sight for her. She had only been here for a short while, but she already knew enough about him to know to stay away from him. He was the bully that everyone avoided, and he was no older than six years old. Everyone took one look at him, and were instantly frightened. When she first laid eyes on him, she got scared and got some comfort by clutching to her necklace. It was a golden heart-shaped necklace that was pretty old and brittle, but it didn't matter to her. She treasured it very much.

Today was her first day at this orphanage, and the young figure already decided to welcome her by taking away her necklace she was holding. He easily snatched it from her practically inviting neck. The little girl was shocked by his sudden actions. That necklace that he was now running away with was the only thing she had to remember her parents by. The owners of this orphanage were nice people and were good substitutes, but she just didn't want to forget about her own real parents: she had to get that necklace back.

The little girl, although older than the boy, was not able to get back her necklace. She chased the boy all around the orphanage. She kept getting smacked on the face by books, toys, and anything else the boy threw at her to try and stop her pursuit. Eventually the boy was stopped by another person. Not by one of the adults, but by a little girl, that glared at him just like any adult.

"Give it back, Seifer!" yelled the little girl. It was frightening how adult she already sounded, and she was younger than the girl in need was.

"Hmph. Fine, take back your stupid necklace!" he screamed spitefully, throwing the necklace straight to the ground. Seifer ran away quickly as the necklace broke into several large pieces.

"I'm sorry he did that to you." she apologized to the older girl as if she was the boy's mother. She picked up the necklace and now noticed its condition.

"My…necklace…" the older girl's voice trembled, on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry, Sis can fix it. She's the bestest!" the younger girl exclaimed, as she gathered the pieces of the necklace into her right arm.

"…R-really?" asked the older girl eagerly, her hopes rising.

"Yeah. Come with me." she grabbed hold of the older girl's hand with her free arm, and gently pulled it to follow. "My name's Quistis. What's your name?"

"Xu…"

They had walked a short distance, before coming up to an older woman. She was wearing an informal dress with a skirt, and a scarf.

"Sis! We need your help!" cried out Quistis as she came to a sudden stop in front of the woman. Xu nearly collided with Quistis.

"I'm sorry Quisty, but I was gonna get Squall a drink of water right now. Can't it wait? He's got a fever you know." Sis replied, too preoccupied with the care of Squall to see what Quistis was holding or who she brought with her.

"No. She needs your help." Quistis urged, pointing towards Xu. Sis turned to face the two girls, and saw a new face.

"Oh I'm sorry, my name is Ellone, what's your name?" she asked, bending down to eye level with her. Placing the cup she was going to fill with water on the floor, and extending her hand.

"I'm Xu…" she said shyly behind Quistis. Slowly reaching out and shaking Ellone's welcoming hand.

"Sis, she needs you to fix this necklace for her." Quistis explained. She opened her palm that had the parts, and showed it to Sis.

"I see…we'll have Matron look at that. Give the pieces to me, and I'll take them to her." she said half-heartedly, opening her hand up. As if she was still worried more about Squall than helping out this new person.

"Nevermind! We'll take it to her ourselves." snapped Quistis. Clutching the necklace strongly, and pulling Xu to follow. The two girls walked briskly away from the older woman.

When they were out of hearing range from her Quistis murmured something like "…Squall…always stealing Sis…" that was all she heard her say, and then she shouted out loud, "I don't get what's so special about him!"

A week had passed, and now Quistis and Xu had become fast friends. The two were in the kitchen, after having dinner, putting away their plates and dawdling there to have time to speak.

"So how do you like it here so far?" asked Quistis.

"It's…fun…" responded Xu, not really putting any feelings into what she said. She seemed much more preoccupied on the brittle plate she had on her hand.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm worried if I can ever get back my necklace…"

"Don't worry! Matron is the bestest! She'll be fixing that necklace as we speak!" she said as she placed her plate on the stack of dirty plates.

"But you said that about Sis…"

"Well Sis is only good some of the time. The other time she's too busy with _Squall _to be helpful." Quistis said through a strained smile.

"Are you mad at…Squall?" Xu asked after she noticed the extra emphasis she put on Squall's name.

Quistis didn't reply.

Xu's plate shattered in her hands. The mentioning of Squall's name was left unspoken the rest of day.

The next afternoon the two were playing outside during their recess time. They hadn't known each other long, but they were already close friends.. In the middle of their playing Matron had come up to them with some news.

"Here you go, Xu. I wasn't able to fully fix it, but I was able to get into two parts."

"I see…" said Xu, frowning at the news. She received the two parts of her once whole necklace.

"Although I have a suggestion." began Matron. Xu shot her glance straight up at Matron and beamed at her as if she had some magical technique to fix her necklace. "Why not give one of these parts to your best friend?"

Xu frowned momentarily, but then brought herself back into a smile.

"Okay!" Xu seemed thrilled to hear those words. She quickly picked a piece, and presented it in front of Quistis. "We'll be best friends forever, alright?"

"Alright!" Quistis responded.

That all seemed like a distant past. A past she could no longer venture into anymore. Xu woke up with a start. Not because of the dream she just had, but because of the feeling of familiarity it had. After second guessing that dream, she felt like it was…

'Real? But wait…if that was really true then I'd have that necklace with me.' She felt around her neck thinking some sort of necklace was going to materialize out of nowhere. No such luck.

----------

Quistis was sleeping peacefully in Zell's bed. She had no dream of the past, or any dream at all that night. It was morning and she decided to stay in bed longer than she should. Now that she should be away from Xu for the next few days, Quistis had no idea what to do with herself.

Perhaps she could ask for a mission that would keep her busy, one that wouldn't aggravate the recovery of her elbow joint, or maybe go find a new book, avoiding the one Carbuncle was in, to begin reading from the library. It didn't matter to her, just as long as she stayed preoccupied long enough.

Of course all thinking came to a halt as Zell's door slid open as a very lifeless and bandaged Zell came waltzing, with a crutch in one hand, into his room, oblivious to the fact that someone else was there. It was only until he heard a scream right in front of him that he realized that someone else was there with him.

"Ahh! Zell! What are you doing here!" yelled Quistis, taken aback by his unexpected appearance.

Zell gave a little jump by the sudden voice, nearly loosing grip of his crutch. He saw who it was, and performed a bigger jump as he witnessed Quistis in his bed, causing him to actually loose his grip on the crutch and fall to the ground. "Oww! What the-Me! This is my room! What are _you_ doing here!"

"I thought you were supposed to take a month for a full recovery!"

"Yeah. I was allowed to leave this morning. I'm just supposed to take it easy and I'll be fine in no time. Anyway, why are you here?"

"…Because I can't return to my room. Not yet…"

"What? Why? Didn't Selphie deliver my message?"

"…The delivery wasn't a problem…" muttered Quistis. She was getting herself out of his bed as she spoke. "To say bluntly…I'm in borderline of being dumped. Worst part is that Xu doesn't realize that."

"Oh…sorry to hear that. Well…you can stay here as long as you want then." he offered. He then pointed a thumb towards a door to the left of the room, and added, "just don't open that closet. There's a huge pile of trash in there."

"How very SeeD-like..." commented Quistis jokingly. Now standing in front of Zell and offering her left hand for him. He took the offered hand and got himself up, leaving the crutch on the floor, and getting support from Quistis's shoulder. It was only until he was on her shoulder that he registered Quistis's last comment. He quickly shot his face in front of her own, leaving little room for her to look anywhere else.

"Hey…I'll have you know that…"

Before Zell was allowed to finish, the door swung open again and another figure came in.

"Hey Quisty! You still sleeping?" yelled the new guest loudly.

'Even if I was I wouldn't be now…' thought Quistis.

The third person came casually skipping in, and came to a stop in the room with the two other people. She quickly covered her eyes with both her hands.

"Oops. I'm interrupting again."

Zell quickly backed away from Quistis, but forgot he couldn't stand with no support and fell to the ground again, feeling embarrassed. Quistis just closed her eyes, out of annoyance, and crossed her arms, her right arm only half-crossed due to the injury.

"Selphie…stop assuming those kinds of things. Have you forgotten all about simple logic?"

"Oh right. You've got a girlfriend, and this is Zell we're talking about."

"Yes, exactly," nodded Quistis in agreement.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean!" interjected Zell, still on the floor.

"Exactly how it sounds." said Selphie.

An argument quickly broke out between the two, and Quistis didn't want to tolerate an argument so early in the morning. She left the two to quarrel, and went outside the dorm. She wandered the hallway, not having a set destination until she had someone address her.

"Quistis?" came a voice.

Quistis turned to find the source, and saw that it was…

"Xu?"

"Do you think we can go somewhere to talk?"

----------

-Simultaneously Occurring-

"I bet you I can get a fan club of me started way faster than you…hey what are you doing?" asked Zell.

"Shh." Selphie had her head slightly out of the door leading to the hallway. "It looks like Quisty and Xu are going to make up!"

"What? Really? Hey let me see!" Dragging his body over to the door. Both now had their heads out the door.

"Do you think we can go somewhere to talk?" they heard Xu ask.

"Sure." replied Quistis. They witnessed Xu grabbed hold of Quistis' undamaged arm, and pull it away with her. Once they had gone enough of a distance, Selphie and Zell followed them (with Zell clinging to her for support).

----------

A few minutes later, Quistis and Xu were in the Quad, sitting down on a bench. Unknown to them, two curious friends of theirs were following them. The two spies stealthily hid themselves on the support beams of the ceiling above the two women.

"Selphie, what if this breaks on us?" asked Zell worriedly. Questioning the very metal that was supporting their bodies at the moment.

"Shh. I wanna hear what they got to say." snapped Selphie, trying to keep her voice as low as possible. Zell made no further argument as he too wanted to hear.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Quistis asked, opening the window of conversation.

"Umm well…I've been thinking about what you said before, and before I say anything else I must first see something for myself."

"See what?"

Xu replied with a hand that went under Quistis's shirt. It entered from the neck opening, and didn't venture far before finding what it had looked for. Xu felt a necklace around Quistis's neck and pulled it out into view. Just like she thought, it was a half of a golden heart-shaped necklace.

"So is it _was_ real…" thought Xu out loud.

"What was?" Quistis asked.

" 'We'll be best friends forever, alright?' "

"Xu what are you…" Quistis ended that question prematurely as she realized what was going on. Xu just asked her a question she had answered years ago. " 'Alright!' "

"Oh Quisty…" Xu flung her arms around Quistis, and held her strongly. Tears escaping her eyes. "I'm sorry for not believing you!"

"That's alright. We're friends now, and that's all that matters." Quistis said, now returning the embrace.

"Aww, that's so sweet." said Selphie. "Right Zell?…Zell?"

She took a look at Zell and saw that Zell was resisting the urge to sneeze. If he sneezed they'd be caught instantly. She quickly threw both hands to cover his mouth. The sudden motion was enough to make Selphie loose her balance, and she plummeted down on the bench that Xu and Quistis were sitting on. Landing dangerously close to them. Zell shortly fell down too and joined them.

'This won't end well…' thought Zell.

---

Quistis and Xu quickly came out of their hug as they had Selphie land nearly on top of them. A second later Zell came falling down too.

"Uhh…Hi Quisty. Hi Xu." greeted Selphie awkwardly.

"What are you doing here…?" asked Quistis, already become annoyed.

"Well you see…me and Zell were just hanging up on the ceiling, and you two happen to show up. We didn't want to disturb you so we tried not to say anything. Right Zell?…Zell?" Selphie spun around, and saw that Zell had already cast Float on himself and thrust himself from wall to wall to escape. "Traitor!" she spat out towards him.

"He won't get far." Quistis assured Selphie. "Now Selphie…" began Quistis. Selphie immediately turned to face her, now noticing the serious death glares being shot out towards her. "…I'd like you to start explaining. Truthfully this time."

**Author's Note: **There! I finished this unbelievably long chapter! I'm making a note to never write a chapter this long again. It was fun writing this, until about the 16th page. After that I just tried to cut it short and finish it early. I think that shows too.

Well I was able to accomplish most of what I wanted to do this chapter. Although I wasn't able to do two things. I wanted to have Selphie say Booyaka, and include Irvine somewhere. But I was able to do everything else I had planned so I'm happy.

Anyway this was a lengthy chapter, because I'm hoping this can hold down you readers down long enough for me to go back to writing other fics I'm working on. I was hoping to update on that other fic I have, and start a few new ones. So it'll be a while before this story will get another update. You can see the status of this fic in my bio if you click on it. Along with anything else I'm writing or going to write.

This chapter I had mostly as a way to set up a background and secrets that will be answered later on. Next chapter I'll try to include the two things I left out for this chapter. But please don't spend a lot of time pointing out my word choices and grammar errors, because this chapter was very boring for me and I'd rather not have to go back to make corrections unless it's for a crucial error.

I'd also like to point the writing style I have in this fic. I sometimes write as if the character was narrating themselves. You could find quite a few instances in this chapter.

I now accept anonymous reviews, so logging in isn't necessary anymore.

Anyway, here' a preview for chapter four!

Chapter Four: The Love Once Forgotten

"Quisty we're friends right?"

"Huh? Well yes. Of course we are. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that…I've been thinking…and…" Xu stopped in her tracks, causing Quistis to do the same. She stood in front of her best friend.

" '_And_…'? " urged Quistis. Wanting to know what exactly was on her mind.

"I'm sorry but…I can't have that anymore! I want…I want…more than that…"


End file.
